What's the best TRON paint?

i86time

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I hate to start this thread seeing as how there's about 5 others, but I still can't come up with an answer. I'm going to have a TRON painted in the next couple weeks and I'd like to achieve the most original looking finish. I know it'll never look like an exact copy of the melamine laminate, but I want to give it a shot. A lot of the threads have been happy with the results but the OP's will write something like "it looks great, but not 100% original", etc., so I have nothing to go on. But what I've pieced together is that 2-3 coats of satin black acrylic enamel over 1-2 coats of primer/sanding should do the trick. Anyone done this? There was a gloss acrylic job, but I don't recall seeing satin. Plus I need to buy the paint, so I want to do it right the first time. All else fails, I guess I can but a few different mixes and have the guy test it out on some scraps.

Thanks

[EDIT] This'll be hvlp sprayed.
 
I used satin black and I believe it looks very good. Gloss is no good, and semi-gloss is still a tad shiny in my opinion. Fill every tiny pinhole, prime and sand with 220 grit or higher at least twice, and then spray. If the first coat isn't great, sand that (again, I'd go higher than 220 grit) and paint again.
 
Thanks for the input. I also forgot to ask, do I need to add anything to the paint? Apparently acrylic enamel is actually oil based, so I guess I need to use mineral spirits or acetone to thin. Do I need to add anything to get it to give it that 'thick' melamine look or will mutiple coats do that. Also, hardener in necessary to get it to see so I can do mutiple coats and sand/smooth in between, correct?
 
I'm not a pro when it comes to spray painting. I don't have an HVLP gun and have never used one. The only system I've used is the Preval disposable can sprayers (for my Pac-Man and Turbo) and regular can spray paint. You're never going to have "thickness" like the original melamine finish, nor do I think you need it. If I were going to redo mine, I would do a lot of prep work with Bondo and other finishers and several coats of primer and have it sanded to perfection. Then, if you don't have access to an HVLP gun, I'd just buy 4 cans of Rustoleum Satin Black and spray paint it in several layers. You can sand in between coats with 220 or higher grit, but you need to wait a day or so before doing it...otherwise the paint cakes up your sandpaper and it just smears/tears from the surface.
 
I agree on the RustOleum satin as it would probably get closest to the original finish, IF you have the surface perfectly smooth before and spray it slick. That requires sanding multiple coats of primer..probably work best to use a high build guidecoat type primer, like used on cars. I would then spray RustOleum satin black, through an HVLP gun, thinned with acetone as directed on the quart can.
 
Am I the only person here that thinks the finish on Tron is glossier than a satin finish??? The same applies to Galaga, it seems like they are both more of a semi-gloss.
 
Looking at the paint under the coin door frame and under the protective plastic on the top of my machine I thought it was semi-gloss. But the consensus here was the semi-gloss paint was too glossy.
 
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